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My genesis equilibrium has been pretty bombproof fully loaded on the rear across italy france and spain, comfy but still quite fast
Ooh, im off to have a look at those on www now! Thanks for the input, this is a little more tricky than i imagined!
Im also loving the Surly Ogre. It seems a good frame and i have wheels etc to build up. Is there any love for this bike?
Oh yes indeedy! As above it probably rules out drops, but I have seen them with the flared drop bars fitted. Mine is probably more comfy than the Panorama (with 2.2 tyres on...)
[url= https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2940/14680845073_e517558e5c.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2940/14680845073_e517558e5c.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= https://flic.kr/p/oniaLv ]P1030090[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/107347896@N06/ ]Richard Picton[/url], on Flickr
Innit?
It's easy to get distracted.
🙂
I'm pretty much set on the Disc Trucker.
It fits, I like the ride and it does what I want - some camping, hilly back road touring, cycleroutes,shopping, commuting.
Should be fine with big tyres on towpaths and smoother off road stuff.
No overlap with smaller wheels too.
The Thorn Sherpa is nice too, if you don't need discs.
Sorry.
🙂
Oh and the Surly ECR is lush if you fancy something different.
Bit ott for me but so nice to ride.
Brenin, if you're serious about the Ridgeback Panorama Deluxe (the disc model) I'd get your skates on - looks like it's frame only for the 2016 model year.
Another genius marketing move by the group who dropped the dropped bar Genesis Tour de Fer after wonderful reviews and selling out within months.
CTC are going anti-disc at the moment...My experience concurs with theirs.
How come?
Have spent a while agonising over brakes.
The only problem I can think of is bent rotors.
If I have to use planes & boats, the plan was to remove 'em first.
I'm more likely to end up in Cork than Ouagadougou, so I should be OK for spares.
Have I missed something vital?
I was rather looking forward to being able to stop properly. 😐
Two reasons really.
Overheating when drag braking on long descents with resultant fade when you need the braking at the bottom of the hill (Robin Thorn has a good rant about this too on his website, especially for tandems).
Also, lack of comfort at the front because forks have to be made stronger.
It's in the latest magazine.
My experience is that the discs which work so well off-road in Morzine can fade on the long fast road descent from Avoriaz. I am 'big-boned', though.
Love my Surly Disk trucker. A few observations:
I built it up from bits i had lying around, then adjusted and tinkered (as you do). Final build, other than the hope hubs, is pretty much identical to the whole bike build. Surly know what they are doing.
Straggler seems to be all but identical, other than it could take hub gears without a tensioner. I might have been tempted by the straggler had i realized that, as im a sucker for an alfine (though the gear range isnt wide enough when its properly loaded)
Genesis Tour De Fer is totally comparable to the Surly, at a good chunk of less money. I would strongly consider the TdF, though the 2016 ones are flat bar specific, and i like drops.
With discs you do need to learn not to drag the brakes. Build up a bit of speed, brake firmly to scrub it off, then repeat. On long straights you can go pretty fast on a stable, loaded bike. If you're going to the Alps/big mountain roads then couple of spare pairs of sintered pads will help as they don't fade as much as organic.
The CTC beef was with short steep ones e.g. into Lynmouth. No choice but to drag on 25% !
Good points.
I've boiled hydro's once, didn't realise it was a big problem with cable discs.
I'll have a read.
I usually stop and let rims or discs cool down on big descents, give each brake a rest etc, but I know it's not always possible.
As to comfort.
I have read the comments on disc forks in the Thorn brochure.
I'm sure he's right.
However, my current bike has a pair of straight Kona P2's.
I've got used to it, but I'm convinced the legs are solid.
2 inch tyres cover a multitude of sins.
🙂
Lots to think about, thanks.
A Thorn test ride might be on the cards.
Sorry for the thread hijack Brenin, hope you're finding this helpful.
Read the CTC report on discs. Frankly it smacked of a prejudged agenda rather than open minded journalism. Interesting that worn, buckled rims or limited tyre widths weren't mentioned but discoloured discs and boiling fluid were. Having ridden laden bikes with SP caliper, DP caliper, centre pull, canti, V brakes, mechanical and hydraulic discs, hydro discs are significantly more effective than anything else at stopping you and your kit. No system is perfect but their report was astonishingly one sided.
downshep - on re-reading I kinda agree with that.
Today, whilst changing pads I noticed my Thorn's rear rim was blown - a pad through a rim is unmanageable whereas fade you can look for a good bail point and cycle front to rear braking whilst looking !
Fair point on short steep descents, had a few of those in Normandy this summer. I think the advantages still outweigh any downsides though. You could also put bigger rotors on and finned pads (depending on the brake model) if you expect this kind of terrain on a trip.
It appears that disc or rim brake is a bit of a connundrum here. It seems like when the industry pushes ahead with a new standard it makes choice more difficult. The continuing change in standards makes it difficult as a bike horder.
The bike im looking for is quite niche to me. I dont mind adding another bike to the stable, but it would have to fulfill its role very well. I have bikes that i can 'make do' for cycle touring, but the chance of owning aomething specific for that role is v tempting.
I have fallen in love with the Shand Stoater...its expensive, but i could see it living in my lounge...and that sort of bike lust is hard to put a price on!
The CTC beef was with short steep ones e.g. into Lynmouth. No choice but to drag on 25% !
Errr yes there is - brake for a bit then coast for a bit - and that hill is only 25% for a short bit at the bottom anyway. After riding down it with rim brakes I would have sold my ass to have discs instead (I nearly lost it anyway after cooking the rim brake pads so I could actually SMELL them burning!!!).
Peterpoddy to the thread please - he basically pedals an articulated truck when touring!!
I'm a ctc member and i've just read that CTC article in the latest mag, usually i consider the CTC to be quite fair and unbiased in it's tech articles but that was a complete hatchet job.
Not impressed with the quality of reporting.
Condor Fratello, obvs.
This was a short haulage trip rather than a touring load, and I only had a few gentle hills between me and the destination but would definitely not have wanted to be without my discs.
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Throw in some weather and the discs win hands down EVERY time for me, the very few downsides are just not worth the trade off of going back to rim brakes if you're going to be carrying anything bigger than a saddle bag IMO.
I was also a bit dissapointed in the bias and level of discussion in that CTC article, they're normally are much better than that, although the forums are still frequented by plenty (althoguh a minority but a vocal minority at times!) of people who begrudge anything modern or more complicated than a 3speed with rod brakes.
In deffence of rim brakes, I practicaly moved house on my tourer (with about 90l of panniers, stuff on the rack and a 40l backpack). No problems with canti brakes.
Errr yes there is - brake for a bit then coast for a bit - and that hill is only 25% for a short bit at the bottom anyway. After riding down it with rim brakes I would have sold my ass to have discs instead (I nearly lost it anyway after cooking the rim brake pads so I could actually SMELL them burning!!!).
While true, it still only works upto a point. Eventually you kill the brakes, and 9/10 the disks go before the rim brakes. Look how infrequent tyre blow outs are in the TDF (or more amateurish, the Etap) Vs reporters cooking brakes testing disk's on the same hills. I'm sure the reporters aren't that incompetent.
I can see the benefits of disks, but steep descents don't strike me as one of them.